people are all the small towns we've helped, they keep showing up to help the next community. they're from louisiana, california, indiana, illinois. every year you keep seeing more t-shirts for more locations. after katrina we just jumped on his bandwagon. this whole paying it forward thing is contagious. >> it's a big dysfunctional family reunion of all the disaster survivors who get together and do a barn raising. >> those relationships help you heal. >> it's about using the 9/11 anniversary to celebrate that volunteer spirit. >> we'll see you all next year. >> people say thank you for doing this. i say you want to thank me? show up on the next one. >> for more information go to cnnheroes.com. that's all for us tonight. . good saturday morning. three people are believed to be

part of a possible terror plot against the u.s. plan to coincide with the 9/11 ceremonies. two of the three people are american citizens. we will give you the latest on the possible terror threat. listen to the week the firefighters have had in texas. they responded close to 200 wildfires since sunday. president obama declaring an emergency there as homes continue to burn. and today, nasa is heading to the moon. you are looking at the rocket that will launch in a few hours. i'll tell you what the mission to the moon is all about. it is saturday, september 10th. i'm t.j. holmes. it is a weekend where the country will stop and remember

and mourn, but also the government telling you to be vigilant as well. we have increased security, increased scrutiny, one day before the tenth anniversary of 9/11. here is the latest. i mentioned the word credible. credible and specific. it is not yet confirmed. american intelligence networks intercepted communications from pakistan. we are getting a lot of information. a lot of details about the intercept. maybe more than we are used to getting to. they say they are confident in the accuracy of the information. a top u.s. official says the threat likely involves three people. two of them are believed to be u.s. citizens and they could be using a truck or car filled with explosives to carry out an

attack. so police in new york city already had ramped up security around the tenth anniversary of 9/11. they are taking a closer look at trucks and any other suspicious vehicles headed into the city. when we say a closer look, how do they do that? they are literally stopping trucks s and vehicles going through them on the streets. a number of new check points in place has shut the city down to traffic in a lot of places. our senior correspondent allan chernoff is joining us. you talked to one driver that took three hours to get one mile. >> reporter: there were some many traffic jams yesterday that during the day yesterday, the police eased up the blockades. they were permitting two lanes of travel in cases.

not checking quite as carefully. this morning, it is back on. the noose is being tightened. i just went through one of the check points. every single car being checked by a series of police officers. to the south, also check points as well. coming out of the brooklyn battery tunnel that connects brooklyn to manhattan. cars are being told you cannot go north on this highway which passes right by ground zero. certainly very tight security. of course, we anticipated that before the anniversary. it's even a bit tighter than the plans that had been laid earlier on. >> allan, you are there at ground zero. expected to be tight there. the president is coming tomorrow. a lot of people will be there. is it the same as far as this lockdown and check points and

gridlock? does it spread out throughout manhattan and the entire city? >> reporter: well, it did yesterday. obviously yesterday was a working day. so at the check points, the gridlock was just awful and for blocks before the check points as well. today, obviously, it is a saturday. it is not a working day. traffic normally would not be all that bad anyhow. we are not looking for the same type of situation. in terms of security, obviously, it will be exceedingly tight. i should add that the police intend to keep the check points through monday, the day after. >> allan chernoff, thank you. there are lots of special events this weekend to honor those killed on 9/11. the pentagon, former president george w. bush will lay a wreath at the portion of the pentagon

that was damaged by the attack. that is scheduled atat 10:00 eastern this morning. then a permanent 9/11 memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania. honoring the passengers and crew of flight 93. this afternoon, janet napolitano will be on hand for a service at st. patrick's cathedral in new york honoring the firefighters and police officers that died in the ceremony. 343 firefighters died there. tomorrow morning, the tenth anniversary of 9/11 will be on the road. we will be there overlooking ground zero as america remembers this day that changed the world ten years ago. cnn will have complete coverage of the ceremonies in new york, washington and shanksville, pennsylvania. with the country being told to be extra vigilant about the

possible threat against the homeland, yesterday, nbc, their twitter account put out a message that there was a terror attack at ground zero in new york city. but it wasn't the course. it was computer hackers that called themselves the script kitties which are taking the responsible for hacking the nbc twitter account and falsely hosted that. nbc employees that tweet. nbc is working with twitter and authorities to figure this out. also, somebody took 14,000 rounds of ammunition from ft. bragg, north carolina. 14,000 rounds of ammunition are missing right now. investigators think it was taken overnight on tuesday.

they are certainly taking this situation seriously trying to track it down. the missing ammunition belongs to the 82nd airborne. the brigade was locked down after it was missing. what you are seeing here, the scene as the egyptian protesters battle in front of the israeli embassy in cairo. israel's ambassador and staff left egypt since hosni mubarak left. loyalists have ignored the deadline to laydown their weapons and the fighting has resumed in the bastions in the

town of bani walid and sirte. and nasa is watching the weather closely this morning in florida. that is because they are trying to head to the moon today. new moon mission set to launch in a couple of hours. this is the grail project. it is the gravity recovery interior laboratory. they will try to map the lunar surface to figure out what is under the surface. the launch is scheduled for 8:29 eastern time. na nasa has a 60% chance of a launch today. they had to scrub it on thursday due to bad weather. we will bring that to you live if and when it does happen. we turn to texas now. wildfires still burning there. the state needs help from the weather and washington. we have alexandra steele in the severe weather center for us this morning. always good to have you.

good morning. >> good morning. will we see relief for the texas wildfires? the answer is no. we will talk about why. 11 rivers in washington and pennsylvania and new york. record levels have seen them. will we see relief? more on the rain and where it is and where it will not be is coming up with the full forecast. exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

usaa. we know what it means to serve. the tragedy of september 11 united our country. this year, as we open the 9/11 memorial in new york city, we ask that you join us to honor, remember, and reunite. you can help right now by texting the word "hope" to 80088 to give $10. 10 minutes past this hour on saturday morning. we turn to texas. that is where firefighters have been battling dozens of wildfires. nearly 200 separate fires in the past week. president obama declared a state of emergency in one county making them eligible for federal help. our chris welsh is there with more the devastation.

>> reporter: this is one home that we managed to find so far. they are not letting people into the badly burned areas. we have remnants of a bed over there. you see parts of a kitchen or a workout set. the only thing left standing are the brick. at this point, officials are worried about flare ups. this is very dry area. we have crews driving around today. they run a company of flame retardant gel. they are asking people to spray gel on their homes. let's walk out here quickly. this house, you have seen what it has done here. look at the house next door. completely intact. this is the kind of damage this fire did. it hopped and skipped.

one right next door totally fine. this one totally gone. t.j., back to you. there is a different disaster in the northeast. this is what it looks like in eastern pennsylvania. flooding has forced thousands from their homes. many don't have anything to come back to. part of the problem is this could be a toxic mess. the flooding washed over several sewage treatment plants. there is no telling what is in the waters. this is all from what was once tropical storm lee. our john zarrella reports from pennsylvania that the water is starting to subside and leaving behind a massive mess. >> reporter: t.j., i'm standing on the banks of the susquehanna here. the cameraman can show you the benches there. that should be dry land, but it is under water. the susquehanna had come up out of its banks. you see mud here.

you see mud here. the mud went up across the street. this is front street here. literally up to that side of the street. we have to walk across the mud again. if you look down here, you can see all of this water. beyond that, t.j., is a location called shipo. everybody is telling us the water is chest deep there. the only way to get there is by boat. we have seen some cars moving through and coming out of this area. very little activity now. it is quiet. the rest of the city of harrisburg seems to be in pretty good shape. just along front street. governor's mansion suffered damage along front street. one good thing is hurricane agnes in 1972, the water crested at 32 feet. here, only 25 feet from this storm. not as bad as what happened, fortunately, not as bad as hurricane agnes back in 1972.

t.j. >> thank you, john zarrella. we will say good morning to alexandra steele. >> where should we begin? >> you have dry conditions in texas. >> you will see the warm winds. houston at 96 to 97. temperatures are only getting warmer. exacerbating the scenario. dry staying dry. where john just was in harrisburg. he talked about hurricane agnes. we are looking at an incredible amount of rain. they have not seen any of this in last few years. susquehanna dislocating 100,000 people. will we see more rain? we will in pennsylvania in the next 48 hours. the area of low pressure points north of new york and vermont and maine seeing a beautiful day. south of that, this stubborn area of low pressure still will

be here and trigger off rain showers. the pacific northwest, it is hot and dry. that will continue. california has been incredibly warm. portland, oregon is 96. the inner mountain west is cooler than average. here are the temperatures in the 70s in northern new england. look at boston. temperatures in the 60s today. here is the rain. here is what we could see in the next 24 to 48 hours. anywhere between .30 and .50 of rain. this is the area we will see a bit more. we will have more on the forecast and also la niña, t.j. we will talk about it and what it means for the winter. okay. the other thing is florida. how are they doing? she is stepping away. >> i'm sorry. >> she is taking off on me. where are you going? >> tell me. >> how are they looking in florida? they are trying to launch the rocket going to the moon.

will the weather cooperate? >> a 60% chance. florida has seen a lot of showers and storms. we will continue to see that. it was scrubbed once. florida this time of year is tough. about a 60% chance it will takeoff. we will monitor that and get back to you. >> you can go now. >> thank you. a little coffee. >> thanks. she is here throughout the morning. we will check in with her plenty. 16 minutes past the hour. he was one of the many people who lost a close friend when the twin towers fell ten years ago. after watching the outpouring of support, he decided to say thank you in a special way. we will introduce you to the cnn hero after the break. so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. [ laughs ] thanks, honey. yeah. you suck at folding.

[ laughs ] that's my tide. what's yours? [ female announcer ] find the tide that's right for you at tide.com. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving.

we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. we are at 18 minutes past the hour now. you are taking a look at ground zero in new york. that is the place where we will see the memorial service. this tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. can you believe it has been ten years? the president expected there for

the ceremony. many firefighters and families and dignitaries. a lot of new yorkers there to remember that day. also something that we will be talking about this weekend. they are actually opening the 9/11 memorial. the official memorial will be opened to the public on september 12th. that will be dedicated tomorrow as well. of course, in the days and weeks after 9/11, a lot of people are looking for a way to express their grief and the support for those hurting the most. this is how some people did it. this is a street memorial in new york's greenwich village. one of our ireporters sent us these pictures. the day after the attacks, people started making tiles and hung them from a fence surrounding a parking lot. ten years later, that memorial is still standing. just like many other new yorkers, jeff parness was moved by the support the city got. he established a non-profit that sends volunteers from new york

to rebuild other communities hit with disaster. now, more than 10,000 people nationwide are part of the effort. for that, jeff is a cnn hero. >> september 11th was a very tough time for the fire department. i lost some friends. guys i went to the academy with. day afterwards, people came from everywhere to help us out. you knew you weren't alone. >> the outpouring of kindness was more powerful than the terror that happened. that really changed me. >> i'm jeff parness. i just want to show the world that new yorkers will never forget what people did for us following 9/11. every year on the 9/11 anniversary, we take volunteers from new york and head them to other parts of the country that had a disaster. >> we pull into the town and the tallest thing there is the grain silo. it is definitely a culture

shock. >> this is our way of saying thank you. more than half of our volunteers are not from new york. people from all of the small towns, they keep showing up to help the next community. from louisiana, california and indiana and illinois. every year, you keep seeing more t-shirts from more locations. >> after katrina, we jumped on his band wagon. >> this is a big dysfunctional family reunion of the survivors who get together to do a barn raising. >> you are banging nails and building relationships to help you heal. >> it is using the anniversary to celebrate in the volunteer spirit. >> people say thank you for doing this. i say if you want to thank me, show up to the next one. 22 minutes past the hour now. we are seeing the heightened security for the 9/11. it is raising animosity with small town folks and border

patrol agents. especially the border between u.s. and canada. safety versus national security. that is in this morning's passport. stay with me. [ male announcer ] it's a fact:

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25 minutes past the hour now. nadia bilchik joins us. we are talking about border towns. when people first hear that, they think the border between the u.s. and mexico. we are talking about the border to the north which changed somewhat. we are talking about between vermont and canada. security was heightened after 9/11 at the borders. this has upset people. >> these are two villages. it is derbyline, vermont and questi quebec. one particular individual decides one sunday night last year that he will cross from vermont to quebec to go to get a thin crust smoked meat pizza. >> he is not supposed to do this. >> he can do this, but he came across the street.

he had to check in with the border patrol. they were quite irritated. he said he is returning with his pizza. he checked in. he did that. that is not what really upset him. what upset him is when he got home, he and his long term partner have a scanner. they listened to the scanner. the police were saying we better check out this guy. they were hearing what they were actually saying about him. this infuriated him. it was the nature of it. he said here we are in a country. these are our neighbors. i have lived in this village my entire life. he decided to go back across the border. came back again. they said you can't do this. he said why not? there should not be a blockage on this street. he did it a third time. he was arrested and given a $500 fine. he spent about $5,000 appealing

this on principle. this is a little town that has a library that borders the two towns. they call it is the only library that doesn't have books. the books are on the quebec side. >> this is an exception. this is not the case along all of the border. still, these border patrol agents, aren't they just doing their job? >> it was the way in which they did it. he understood check my papers. he understood that. what he didn't understand them on the scanner going, who is this person? let's check him out. that is what he took offense to. was he right or wrong? he got money from all over the country to pay for his legal fees. he returned it all. we need to look at the ramifications of the tragedy. we look at this affecting people all over the country and the world. we see it. the impact. you go to the airport and you see it every day. look at the impact on people who were our friends.

these were his neighbors. now they have to check in to go across the road to get a pizza. it has damaged relations and business. >> nadia bilchik, thank you for our morning passport. we are getting close to the bottom of the hour. israel's ambassador's to egypt has left cairo after the protests outside the embassy. an update for you on that. in new york, they are locking things down securing the streets in the wake of a new terror threat. we will take you there live. stay with me. n gop when you're on the road to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge!

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hey, everybody. we are just past the bottom of the hour on this cnn saturday morning. i'm t.j. holmes. thank you for spending part of your saturday with us. we are teaming up with the tea party express to host a republican presidential debate. this is happening on monday in tampa. the top issues will include social security and government. the format is different from what you see. the audience will be able to ask questions. tea party members in arizona,

ohio and virginia will be able to do so as well. texas has distinguished itself as a state that doesn't shy away from capital punishment. governor rick perry didn't mince words at the gop debate in california. >> in the state of texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you are involved with another crime and kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of texas. and that is you will be executed. >> now, perry's belief in ultimate justice could stop him on the campaign trail. here now is ed lavendara. >> reporter: todd was convicted seven years ago. setting his house on fire to kill his three children.

the appeals were denied. texas governor rick perry signed off on the execution. >> willingham was a monster. >> reporter: just before willingham's death, an investigator found it flawed. the original investigators relied on other evidence. they asked to halt the execution. >> we followed the procedures. they found this man guilty every step of the way. >> reporter: cameron todd willingham still haunts rick perry. did perry try to shutdown an embarrassing investigation in how willingham was convicted? >> i cannot see any way he would

be convicted. i cannot see how a prosecutor would bring the case forward. >> reporter: the innocence project brought the case forward to the science commission. they started looking into whether bad arson techniques were used to convict willingham. sam bassett was head of the commission. he was told the investigation was a waste of state money. >> i could not believe they were injecting themselves into the commission business so directly and confrontationally. >> you got the sense they wanted to influence the outcome? >> yes. that was my sense. they wanted us to stop the investigation. >> reporter: the commission kept working. more fire experts agreed the investigation relied on junk science. seven months later, bassett was told he would not be

recommissioned. >> i saw the actions to stop the investigation. >> reporter: why do you think you were taken off the commission? >> it doesn't take a rocket sciencist to figure out this was a situation that the governor's office clearly did not want us to conclude. >> reporter: perry has denied sam bassett's removal was politically motivated. he remains that willingham deserved to be executed. >> you will find this was a bad man who murdered his kids. >> reporter: more than two years later, the cameron todd willingham investigation is still stalled. nobody can say for sure if texas executed an innocent man. 36 minutes past the hour. i'll give you a look at the stories making headlines. egypt is an improving situation compared it to yesterday when

the protesters were attacking the israeli embassy. the government says six embassy workers are now safe in israel. more than 500 people were hurt. libyan rebel fighters say the loyalists say the fight is back on. rebel commanders say fighting has begun in bani walid and sirte. cnn is not able to confirm the rebel accounts. the firefight resuming in texas. almost 1,400 homes destroyed by one fire. the president has declared an emergency there. clearing the way for federal funds for fire victims. american citizens, possibly at the heart of a suspected

terror plot. intelligence officials believe two u.s. citizens could be involved in a plan to attack new york city or washington d.c. with a truckful of explosives. they are calling this a credible, but unconfirmed threat. the news was greeted with increased security in washington and new york. allan chernoff is in new york. new yorkers are used to a lot of stuff in general. is this time around anything different or new? >> reporter: you know what makes a difference is it is right before the tenth anniversary before 9/11. new yorkers say here we go again. in new york people get used to it. the security exceedingly tight on the streets of new york. yesterday, those check points were put into place. police checking vehicles one by

one. pulling many vans and trucks over. having the drivers open up. the officers also have been wearing radiation detecters making sure there is no radiation coming out of the vehicles. they have been using license plate scanners to make sure that plates are not stolen or that for some other reason, they are not on a police alert list. tight security through the city just before the anniversary. >> you say it is throughout the city. we know the anniversary is tomorrow. it is not necessarily going to just stop tomorrow at the end of the day. >> reporter: correct. the security is planned to be in place through monday. at that point, the police say they will reassess the situation. >> all right. allan chernoff at ground zero. thank you. she's back. the return of a weather anomaly.

la niña. alexandra steele is in with us and she will have more on what this means for the national weather picture. also jack nicholson. his home up in flames last night. that and more on the other side of the break. hey n i pl aywith t? sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. you can talk to a real person 24/7. at exxon and mobil, our smart gasoline works at the molecular level to help remove deposits and clean up intake valves. it helps your engine run more smoothly and leave behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil.

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we are at 41 minutes past the hour now. good morning to you folks on the west coast. a live picture of l.a.x. 3:41 in the morning for you folks out there. i know some of you are just getting in or just getting up. glad you are right here with us. speaking of l.a., a fire destroyed the hollywood hills home of actor jack nicholson last night. you are seeing some of the flames coming out of the home there. it took firefighters 90 minutes to get the fire out. it was too late by then. a lot of the home had been

gutted. this is his long time home. we understand he hasn't lived there for some time. we understand it is being rented out. two firefighters had to be treated for heat exhaustion. let's say good morning once again to alexandra steele. i can never define them. an el niño and la niña. tell me what this one is. >> this is la niña. i was just going to say, what is so fascinating t.j., is the vernacular of all of us. now everyone is really familiar with the vernacular of la niña and el niño. la niña is the colder waters. we are in the colder. we will see a return to this. what does it mean? it means drier than normal conditions in the south. wetter conditions in the pacific northwest and ohio valley. that is what la niña means. what will it mean in terms of the weather?

unfortunately the drought continues for texas and oklahoma and new mexico. we will see warmer temperatures in the south. exacerbating the conditions we already have. what it means is bad news. you remember last year's la niña and what we saw. remember the record winter snow we saw in so much of the country? the northeast and northern tier and northern west. the mississippi flooding. that brought on by this. the spring flooding bringing incredibly rough conditions to the mississippi as we watched that water. remember that drive down from north to south. also an exacerbated drought in texas and in new mexico and in all of these places. unfortunate unfortunately, t.j., the wet get wetter and the dry stay dry. too much water for some and not enough for others. >> we call this a weather

phenomenon. how often do they cycle around? >> normally five years. this la niña is last last year. la niña is the cold water. el niño, a lot of people remember el niño and what that did. that put it on the map. this and last year's as well. this is la niña. this is cold water in the equatorial pacific. the drought and wet will continue. >> don't take off on me. in a couple of hours, we are waiting for nasa to launch. you will see it here live. weather permitting. they are trying to get this grail thing off the ground. the mission to the moon. how are they doing in florida? >> you see a few scattered showers and thunderstorms. it looks after the noon hour, it will be rougher. this morning, the 8:00 hour is when the expectation is for liftoff. a 60% chance of liftoff. we will keep an eye on it.

a few clouds and showers. not where we iwill see the liftoff. >> that's good to hear. we are less than two hours away from the possible launch. we heard it from alexandra. we will turn now to cnn and our new debate coming up on monday. another republican debate. this one will be different. we are teaming up with the tea party express to host a first of its find republican presidential debate monday in tampa. paul steinhauser has it for us after the break.

47 minutes past the hour now. cnn teaming up with the tea party express for the debate in tampa, florida. they will focus on the government and the economy. we have paul steinhauser with the preview. >> michael dukaikis created jobs at a faster rate than you did. >> reporter: rick perry, the new guy in the race and front runner in the polls and mitt romney sparred over jobs and social security. >> it is a monstrous lie. it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids 25 or 30 years old today that you are paying into a

program that will be there. >> under no circumstances would i ever say by any measure it is a failure. it is working for millions of americans. >> reporter: the debate ended, but the fight continues. here in tampa on monday, perry and romney will stand side by side at the tea party republican debate. michele bachmann and ron paul and newt gingrich and herman cain will share the stage. for each of them, our cnn debate is an opportunity to change the dynamics of a usual two-person debate. t.j. a lot of people lost friends on 9/11. a lot of us cannot imagine what it is like to lose someone on that day. can you imagine losing almost 100 friends on 9/11? we will talk to a man who has been interviewing rescuers at

ground zero. he will share those stories with us. xclusive tohe military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. where'd ya go? there you are. there you go. [ female announcer ] you always went for the tall, dark, handsome types. so who'd have ever thought the love of your life... would be short and bald? having a baby changes everything.

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of course, you will see firefighters, police officers and dignitaries and the president taking part in the tenth anniversary of 9/11. that memorial taking place tomorrow. we will have that for you live. on september 11th, 2001, harvey isner was on the way to the twin towers when it collapsed. he lost 100 friends that day. he spent the next nine years talking to other firefighters who spent months searching for bodies. he put his memories in a book. "world trade center, in their own words." harvey joins me now. thank you for being here. help people understand a little better. we all know people who lost someone that day. a friend or two. what's it like to lose that many people that you new personally? >> it was just traumatic. i knew so many people. i had been involved with the

fire department for almost 40 years. i was the chief in new jersey. many of these people were very good friends to me. i met them. overall devastation to the department at that time. >> what was the book? the process of putting the book like? you could call it therapeutic or frankly more painful than you imagined. how was it? >> it was a labor of love. i reported on so many major incidents for the fire service in the last 25 years. when i heard the stories, i had to write them down. i wanted them to be shared with the fire service so they knew what happened that day and the things they had to face. the trauma and the devastation. something they never thought they would ever respond to ever before. >> what struck you about some of the stories? was it many of them had similar experiences or was it that so many of them were so different although they were going through the same event?

>> the area 16 square acres was so large that firefighters on the north didn't know what was going on on the south or east or the west. the stories that were selected wound up being totally different. i interviewed 13 firefighters that were just in the marriott hotel, a 22-story building, and each one had a different story because they each had to go through different circumstances when the towers collapsed. some of them survived one or two collapses of the building. >> who is this book for? you wanted to have these stories shared with other firefighters across the country to hear what your brothers and sisters went through down there. is this for the country to get a better sense? citizens from coast to coast really? >> it has been very well received by firefighters and regular civilians. they can understand it and read it. that's who it is for. i wanted to make sure that 20 or

30 or 100 years from now, i wanted to make sure they knew what happened at the scene. >> certainly, tomorrow, what will you do? is that a day over the past several years on the anniversary that you like to sit down and reflect privately or is that a day you like to be around fellow firefighters? >> well, i have been invited to go to many firehouses and services they are conducting. many of the firefighters finally want to move on. myself, also. it is time to move on. that will help the healing process. >> all right. harvey, i appreciate you spending some time with us. the book is called "world trade center in their own words." harvey eisner, we appreciate you taking the time. tomorrow, you make the best out of it. thanks so much. >> thank you for having me. we are getting close to the top of the hour here on this cnn saturday morning.

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as we get close to the top of the hour, taking a look at stories across country. anti-abortion activists in mississippi are applauding the state decision from the state supreme court to let voters to decide if life begins at conception. it would amend the constitution to extend personhood to the unborn. that would likely mean abortions would be illegal in the state. in tempe, arizona, for the eighth consecutive year,

volunteers set up flags. each in remembrance of those who died in the attack. they call it is healing field. it is their way to honor the victims of 9/11. at the top of the hour. good morning to you on this cnn saturday morning. three people are believed to be part of a possible terror plot against the u.s. government sources say they think two of these three individuals are american citizens. the very latest for you in just a moment. also, listen to the week that firefighters in texas have had. they have responded close to 200 wildfires since sunday. president obama has declared a state of emergency there. also, in just about an hour and a half, nasa is heading to the moon. the scheduled launch of the grail is coming up. we will have that for you live. it is saturday, september 10th.

i'm t.j. holmes. thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us. it's a weekend of mourning and remembering, but also the weekend that the government is telling you to be extra vigilant. increased security and scrutiny the day before the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. there is a credible terror threat causing concern in new york city and washington d.c. this is what we know. this threat called credible and specific, but not yet confirmed. american intelligence intercepted communications from pakistan. including someone who has provided valuable information in the past. a lot is being revealed. usually these details are not revealed from this type of intercept. they are confident in the accuracy of the information. a top u.s. official says the threat likely involves three people. government source saying two are

believed to be american citizens. they could be using a truck filled with explosives to carry out an attack. police are looking at suspicious vehicles heading into the city. a closer look means they are stopping trucks in the middle of the street. new check points have shutdown the city to traffic. our senior correspondent allan chernoff is in new york for us. allan, new yorkers are used to gridlock in the streets, but this is something different. >> reporter: indeed. yesterday was quite a sight on many of the streets of new york. just cars backed up block after block after block. literally for miles. given the fact that it's early saturday morning, a bit of a different situation. during the weekend, far fewer cars coming into new york city and manhattan in particular. it is the early hour still.

the cars you see passing behind me and the trucks as well, they have just gone through a checkpoint. police officers several blocks north of where i'm standing are reviewing cars in a single file. if they do see any truck or van that they want to check out, they will have it pull over. they will have the driver open up. have a look inside. they are wearing radiation detection equipment. if they vibrate if there were any radiation to be coming from the vehicle. t.j., tight security. >> allan, you said something earlier. it was so bad yesterday that they are starting to make adjustments to get traffic flowing a little better today? >> reporter: well, what they did was during the afternoon rush hour, the police eased up on the check points. instead of one lane of traffic going through, they would allow two lanes in some places.

for example, we were stationed at 60th street and columbus avenue. they had been merging four lanes into one. they eased up for the afternoon rush hour. the city was getting a ton of complaints. it was very frustrating for drivers. at the same time, i saw one driver pulled over by a police officer. he had been in his vehicle for an hour and a half and traveled about three miles during that period. going two miles an hour. he said to the officer, you've got a job to do. people understand it has to be done. >> you know what? that's a good point and good to hear that. it will be a frustrating weekend for a lot of folks. new yorkers get it. allan chernoff, thank you so much. with all of this increased security and scrutiny, a lot of people are on edge about another possible attack on the country. a message went out on nbc news on their twitter feed. there had in fact been another

attack at ground zero. but it was computer hackers. hackers that are calling themselves the script kitties. they are taking responsibility for hacking nbc's twitter account and falsely posting a new attack at ground zero. nbc employees quickly saw this and responded. knocked down the post. let everybody know this was not the case. nbc is working with twitter and also working with the authorities on this now. somebody took 14,000 rounds of ammunition from ft. bragg in north carolina. that is 14,000 rounds of ammunition missing right now. investigators think it was taken overnight tuesday. they are certainly trying to hunt this down. the missing ammunition belongs to the first brigade combat team of the 82nd airborne. that lockdown has since been

lifted. egyptian protesters battling protesters in front of the israeli embassy in cairo. at least 500 people were injured yesterday. many egyptians have called for the end of diplomatic relation was the jewish state. in libya, rebels say loyalists to moammar gadhafi have ignored the deadline to laydown their weapons. that the fighting has resumed. this is in the final strongholds of gadhafi right now. two towns of bani walid and sirte. nasa and the rest of us keeping a close eye on the weather in florida because they are trying to get this thing off the ground here in the next hour and a half. what you are seeing on the launch pad is the grail. it will launch heading to the

moon. nasa planning to head to the moon. this is the gravity recovery international lunar. they are hoping to launch at 8:29 eastern time, weather permitting. we have alexandra steele keeping a close eye on it. all are saying there is about a 60% chance it will takeoff. it had to be scrubbed on thursday because of bad weather. the weather is not helping the devastating situation in texas. the number is just the last -- nearly 200 is what we are talking about. nearly 200 fires in the past week in texas. alexandra, good morning again. you put the map up earlier. you had the word "dry" over texas. the weather will not help. >> that was for the winter months. this is the short-term. near austin. 30,000 acres burning in the last

week alone. will the weather help the texas wildfires and the swollen susquehanna? all of the questions will be answered coming up after the break with the full detailed forecast for the weekend. l to ho e e run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil.

about ten minutes past the hour on this saturday morning. victims in texas are getting help from washington d.c. after president obama declared the

fire in bastrop county, texas as a federal disaster. nearly 1,400 homes have been destroyed. they have been dealing with this in texas for some time. >> i want to get in and i can't right now. i want to have the peace of mind that yes, my house is gone and i can actually look and see that my house is gone. i have to have that for my own eyes. >> we have lost everything. we have no insurance on our house. we have nothing. >> people in one county have it worse, but there are fires burning all over the state. nearly 200 broke out in the past week. alexandra steele here with me once again. alexandra, it came out this summer was one of the hottest on record. now that combined with the la niña situation you are telling

me about. the dry keep getting drier. >> t.j., the wet getting wetter. it was the hottest. it was the driest. it is the misnomer of global weather. it is really extreme weather. the hot is hotter. the dry is drier. that is what we are seeing. we will have that exacerbate this winter with la niña. the swollen susquehanna part and parcel. we were talking about the mississippi and how extreme that was. now the susquehanna. this water in pennsylvania because of the sewage treatment plants which are under water. the water is toxic and polluted. here is what we will see. back to the wildfires. the northwest flow is dry. it will continue to be dry. this will spread the wildfires throughout texas and new mexico. here in the northeast, northern

new england will see beautiful blue skies and clear conditions. south of that, this area of low pressure which is very stubborn. more clouds and showers from new york south of virginia. unfortunately. to the west coast, good morning in san diego or los angeles. hot conditions will continue there. temperatures above average for the pacific northwest. south through los angeles. one quick look. tropical storm nate. we thought nate would bring relief to texas. that is what happens. you cannot get water when you need it. nate is staying south bringing rain in mexico. we will talk about maria as well off the coast and it shouldn't affect the east coast. that is a quick picture. >> alexandra, thank you. honoring the victims of those killed. the victims killed on 9/11.

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sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. quarter past the hour on this cnn saturday morning. a live look at ground zero in new york city. that, of course, is where we will watch the dedication of the official 9/11 memorial that will open to the public on september 12th on monday. that, of course, is where the country will take a moment to pause to honor the 2,700 plus people that were killed at ground zero. taking a moment to pause to remember those killed at pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania. a number of events happening day. former president george w. bush will lay a wreath at the

pentagon. at 12:30, a dedication for phase one of the 9/11 memorial in shanksville, pennsylvania honoring the heroes on flight 93. john king is there for us. he will join us later this morning. this afternoon, janet napolitano will be at st. patrick cathedral in new york honoring the firefighters who died at the world trade center. 343 firefighters died there. check in now with the good doctor for a special edition of his show this morning. t.j., we learned the firefighters working at ground zero on or after 9/11 had a 40% increased risk of cancer. i talked about the toxic dust and what it felt like to breathe that in. what tests revealed about the dust and what the experience means now for the next time disaster strikes.

it is a special edition of "sgmd." that is straight ahead at the bottom of the hour. >> thanks to sanjay. starting tomorrow morning at 6:00, our show will be live in new york. i'll be there at ground zero. we will look at how america has changed in the past ten years since 9/11. starting at 8:00, we will have complete coverage of all of the ceremonies in new york and washington as well as pennsylvania. we will say good morning to our financial analyst clyde anderson in just a second. you have debt and you need to pay it off, but you want to save for your future. if you don't know what is more important, you need to listen to him. what do you do? do you save or pay off the debt first? stay with me.

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stash away cash for your future. retirement or college tuition or a rainy day fund. if given the choice, americans would prefer it pay off their debt first. but clyde anderson said 89% of folks may be doing the wrong thing. just in general, we can get into specifics. in general, should you attack that debtor make sure you have the rainy day fund? >> i think the rainy day fund is really important. i think it is great to pay down debt. we are not saying don't pay your debt. get that rainy day fund first. in this economy, you should have ten months of monthly income set aside for emergencies. emergencies do happen. they happen more now than ever. you want to be prepared. >> when you say you may not be paying down versus paying on. you are saying make the minimum payment? >> make your minimum payments. in the case where you have a

situation where you are trying to get your debt-to-income better and qualify for a home. if you are trying to improve your credit score, you want to pay that down. it is important to have financial goals set in place to know what i'm trying to do. >> what we are talking about here is pay yourself first. if you have $5,000 sitting on the credit card. the minimum is $100. whatever it is. don't pay $1,000 or $2,000. use that money for yourself. you could earn more if it is sitting in an account. >> if we are talking about a credit card with a 20% interest rate on, that is a different story. >> that is when you attack the debt. >> if you have low interest rates at 2%, it is not a major issue right now to go ahead and attack it. if you are paying 20% or up, it is better to pay that off. it is like you are earning 14% on that cash.

if i have a credit card where the interest rate is 14%, it makes sense for me to attack that. i'm still paying that. >> why 89% of the folks say that? why do we want to do that first? we want a clean slate. >> debt is bad. it is a bad thing. a lot of people cannot sleep. they don't feel comfortable. they cannot live on. if you are that person, pay that debt down. you don't want to cause extra added stress. we want to wipe that debt out and get rid of it. it is not a bad thing to pay off debt. you have to be strategic. make sure you have the plan and look at the interest rates over what you could earn. >> we were talking about student loans and those low interest rates. credit cards, you need to pay those off. >> if you have some credit cards where you are same-as-cash. you are not paying interest for a set period of time.

know those windows. if you have a credit card where you are paying 14% or up, you want to pay that off. it doesn't make sense to have money sitting in the bank and you are draining to pay that interest on the credit card. >> important information. the key there is you need to look at your situation. it is not the same for everybody. some need to pay the debt. some need to save. clyde, good stuff. good to see you. 24 minutes past the hour. some people need a good reason to have a cocktail or glass of wine? if you need one, i have one for you. this only applies to some of you. i'll explain this in a second. stay here. why do we have aflac...

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the hour. ladies, drinks on me. a harvard study that says women who drink moderately in middle age have better health when they get older. women who drank one-to-two drinks a day in middle life had better health. women who spread their alcohol consumption over a week fared better than women who drank just one or two days a week. how do you like that? all right. let's give you a look at the other stories making headlines. the deadline to surrender has passed. a rebel military commander says forces loyal to gadhafi are fighting in bani walid. key members of gadhafi's regime may